


Prince

by luna_plath



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aurors, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Post - Deathly Hallows, Post-Series, Shippy Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 06:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2057808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna_plath/pseuds/luna_plath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry spends his practical lessons paired with Susan Bones, who has turned serious and icy since the war. She’s the only girl in their training group and tougher than the lot of them combined. He remembers her easy smile from their days at school and wonders what’s keeping her from moving on—but he backtracks, his mind hissing with the same question: <i>what am I trying to accomplish here?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Prince

The incoming class of aurors is the largest the Ministry has had since the origin of the DMLE. Most argue that it’s necessary with two thirds of the experienced aurors injured, missing, or dead, but Harry has a suspicion that it has more to do with communal grief and, perhaps, a personal desire for revenge that they all secretly harbor.

He’d be lying if he said that wasn’t why he was interested, but the public takes his recruitment as a sign of positive change. Things must be getting better because _Harry Potter_ is out there to protect them all.

If only his motivations were so noble.

Harry spends his practical lessons paired with Susan Bones, who has turned serious and icy since the war. She’s the only girl in their training group and tougher than the lot of them combined. He remembers her easy smile from their days at school and wonders what’s keeping her from moving on—but he backtracks, his mind hissing with the same question: _what am I trying to accomplish here?_

This thought slips away from his mind as soon as they begin to duel, the feeling of magic crackling through the air, but he’s sure it’ll occur to him again. It’s the same question that rattled through his brain when he was a teenager, the same one that makes him moody and snappish when he considers the massive emptiness in his life in the wake of Voldemort.

They aim their spells for direct contact, and the escaped stray lock of Susan’s hair doesn’t slip past his notice. Cast; dodge; counter. It’s difficult for him to imagine a different kind of existence.

\--

Kingsley offers to waive his training, to push him through to level two trainee status. The offer is to him, _just_ him, and while the recognition is flattering (not Ron and not Neville, _just Harry_ ) he turns him down.

“You don’t have to make this any easier for me,” he says, and the look the minister wears is knowing and unsurprised.

“Actually, Harry, promoting you would make things easier on me. We need more aurors, and we need them sooner than eighteen months, but it’s your decision.”

Instead of being the man everyone expects him to be, instead of gasping and dragging himself back up for another fight, instead of rising to the occasion, he declines.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”

It feels good to finally take something for himself.

\--

The next day at training, Susan looks at him coldly, her gray eyes never leaving his.

“Why are you still here?” she asks, and it’s her no-nonsense attitude that finally solidifies his decision.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he says, raising an eyebrow and taking his place in front of her.

Susan accepts his answer with a nod, drawing her wand and appraising him with intense focus. It’s these experiences, he knows, that will carry him through the rest of his life.

At the instructor’s command, they begin.


End file.
